NAIA’s eGate Rollout: Progress Crawls While Passenger Numbers Soar

NAIA’s eGate Rollout: Progress Crawls While Passenger Numbers Soar

By Bing Jabadan – TheNationWeek.Com | November 24, 2025

MANILA, Philippines – While passenger volume at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) skyrockets past its designed capacity, improvements to alleviate bottlenecks are inching forward.

New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC) announced a phased activation of biometric immigration eGates, powered by Amadeus technology, starting next month.

Deployed across Terminals 1 and 3, the eGates aim to expedite immigration checks using passport scanning and facial recognition.

However, full deployment isn’t expected until early next year.

“Our goal is to make each part of the airport experience more comfortable for passengers,” NNIC declared in a press statement.

“These eGates will help reduce bottlenecks at immigration and support the broader improvements we have been introducing across NAIA.”

The project, a collaboration between NNIC funding and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) operational components, integrates with existing biometric passenger touchpoints at check-in, security, and boarding.

While the eGates promise to streamline passenger flow, the delayed timeline raises concerns.

NAIA processed over 50 million passengers last year, exceeding its original design capacity, highlighting the urgent need for faster implementation of solutions to address growing congestion.

The snail’s pace progress contrasts sharply with the high-speed increase in passenger numbers, leaving travelers wondering if these long-awaited improvements will arrive in time.